[robjs]

There's no reason operators can't show-up, and a bunch of us do - however, it requires significantly more time investment than posting to NANOG. In some of my professional roles this has been easy to get, in others (especially smaller shops) it's much harder to justify the benefit of spending the time there.

[kitteh]

The NANOG community is much better to operate in. You are dealing with your peers (ha) and what you say generally resonates with the audience better. At IETF, you have people who collect paychecks from companies who technically run networks, but have no responsibility with the operation of it.

[throw0101a]

Well, which is why it may be useful to get some of the NANOG (or international equivalent) folks involved in the IETF (and vice versa?): having end-user buy-in is important for any technology or service.